


I Fell From Earth to Get to Heaven

by Movie_Riggs



Series: The Guardians of the Galaxy Go to Heaven [2]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: If Marvel would stop killing them, Takes place immediately after Infinity War, The Guardians are back in heaven, This wouldn't have to happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-29 22:53:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14482962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Movie_Riggs/pseuds/Movie_Riggs
Summary: One moment he was standing on Titan battling Thanos, the next he finds himself in a void of white light. Thankfully, he is not alone.*Infinity War spoilers galore* (though honestly, what are you doing here if you haven't seen it? And why haven't you seen it? Go see it right now)





	I Fell From Earth to Get to Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> I've finally come out of the daze that seeing Infinity War for the first time made me go into. Still can't believe Gamora died...I would love it if she returned but we were promised permanent deaths and hers felt like one of them. Since Marvel seems keen on killing everybody Peter loves, this is all I can do for him.
> 
> Also, once again, I'll admit that this series tosses aside all potential rules for the MCU. Gamora and/or the people who turned to dust might be trapped inside the Soul Stone for all we know. But I'm just gonna roll with it for now.

**Somewhere in Space**

Peter Quill lay on his bed in the Milano, one leg hanging off the side and his Zune playing soothing music in his ears. He was just drifting off to sleep when he felt a familiar presence enter the room. The only presence that could simultaneously arouse him _and_ strike fear in him, but that was neither here nor there. Gamora laid down beside him, one slender green hand retrieving one of the earphones so that she could listen as well. This was not an uncommon activity for them to do; not since she had admitted that there _was_ some unspoken thing. However, Peter had to wonder if it would ever potentially lead to more than just sharing a bed and a song for a few precious minutes each night. Sam and Diane certainly got to do a lot more than that on Cheers...

"What's this one?" Gamora questioned softly, interrupting his thoughts. 

Peter gazed down at her. Her eyes were open, staring at the ceiling absentmindedly. Peter grinned, considering himself lucky to have a woman like her for an almost-more-than-friend. He especially liked that she at least pretended to be interested in the Earth music he listened to, unlike any other female alien he had ever come remotely close to seducing. "This is 'Let Your Love Flow' by The Bellamy Brothers. It's off their Greatest Hits album, which I don't remember having been around when I was on Earth. I heard it once on the radio, though."

"Another favorite of your mom's?"

"No, actually," Peter said. "I don't remember her ever playing this one. But I've got two whole tapes of her favorites. All those songs she gave me, they remind me of her. It's cool to have this Zune thingy, though. Finding new songs that remind me of new things."

"What's this one remind you of?" Gamora's eyes were closed now, and Peter decided to risk it.

"You, mostly."

And there they were, opened again. 

"I hope you don't think a stupidly suave line like that is going to make me lower my defenses."

"Defenses, huh?" Peter said, mildly frustrated that she never let him express what she meant to him yet also entertained by the chase. "That's funny, because defenses only need to be put up if you're afraid of something breaking through. Which, in this case, means you have defenses put up against me and the kiss that I'm going to give you one day."

"You will never get to kiss me, Peter."

"Not only will I _get_ to kiss you," Peter continued. "But you're going to _want_ me to."

"If you ever kiss me, I'll stab you."

Gamora sat up, threw his earphone back at him, and walked coolly out of the room. Peter sighed and put a finger gun to his forehead, firing the imaginary trigger. One day, he kept telling himself. One day.

* * *

 

**2 Years Later**

_"Quill! Don't you move, boy!"_

_"Peter. Take my hand."_

_"If you kill me, you'll be just like everybody else!"_

_"I love you more than anything."_

_"Steady, Quill."_

_"Oh, man."_

Peter Quill instantly regretted opening his eyes when he felt the sharp pain of an unbearably bright light blinding him. Groaning, he covered his face with both hands, rolling over in the hope of finding darkness against the surface he was lying on. No darkness came. 

Footsteps echoing in the distance. Getting closer. Voices he vaguely recognized. Suddenly, he was being rolled back over. 

"Quill!" a gruff male voice snapped. "Get up, boy!"

Now he knew he was dreaming. Peter did not remove his hands from his eyes. It had to be a dream. It had to be. Why, just a moment ago he had been alive, fighting Thanos on Titan. Then suddenly, the giant grape-head had disappeared, and then he and his friends were turning to dust. 

"Dust..." Peter whispered. 

"Hell, boy, would you just get up?"

Finally, he moved his hands and squinted, his eyes beginning to adjust. A familiar blue face was staring down at him, sans fin. 

"Yondu?"

The old pirate chuckled. "There it is! I was sure it was you."

Struggling to overcome the daze he was in, Peter hurriedly shuffled to his feet. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa! Okay, hold on a second!"

Yondu held out his hands reassuringly. "Now wait a minute, there. Don't freak out."

"Uh, I am freaking _the hell_ out!" Peter declared, spinning about wildly. "Where the hell am I? And you! What, is this another one of that reality stone's tricks? You're dead!"

Yondu lowered his arms and sighed, nodding. "Yeah. I am dead, boy. So are you."

Peter frowned, looking about. The realm he was in was completely white. No definable boundaries seemed to exist. There was no ground, no sky. Only the light, which was coming from everywhere at once. His jacket and guns were gone. So was his mask. Now he was dressed in simple white clothes. 

"I'm dead?" he asked, his voice quiet as he took it all in. 

"Yes," Yondu affirmed. 

Peter sat back down, crossing his legs and taking a deep breath. "Geez. I, uh...I didn't see that coming."

Yondu knelt down next to him. "Yeah, you were always too stupid to think you could die. Thought you were invincible from the moment I taught you how to shoot."

Rather than debate Yondu about the intricacies of his childhood--which was almost instinctual even after three years of the Ravager's absence--Peter simply remarked, "Well, this sucks."

Yondu grinned, his teeth unusually even and stainless. "I thought that too, at first. But you might think differently if you get up and come with me."

Peter studied his father figure's face, observing a pure look of merriment that he had never seen before. He clasped his hand in the one Yondu offered him and pulled himself up into a standing position once more. Silently, Yondu gestured for him to follow and began walking into the nothingness. Peter expected him to bump into a wall or fall off an edge at any moment, but this realm appeared to be infinite. 

"Is this...heaven?"

"It ain't the galaxy you and I know," Yondu replied. "I can tell you that. No one ever dies here. Everybody's happy. Kinda repulsive, really. That what you Terrans would call heaven?"

"Maybe."

Finally, Peter saw ahead of Yondu several other people, too far away to recognize. One of them spotted Yondu and began waving. He waved back. As they grew closer, Peter halted where he stood and gaped, unable to help his eyes from watering. 

"Peter."

"Mom?"

Meredith Quill walked forward so her son wouldn't have to, and embraced him, shaking with a vibrant mixture of laughter and sobs. "Look how big you've grown." Peter didn't know what to do. His arms hung limp at his sides, unable to muster the strength to hug his mother back. It didn't help that her presence seemed so fragile and unfamiliar, as if even attempting to touch her himself would cause her to vanish. His mother clearly understood, because she patted his back and released her embrace, letting him drink in her image and comprehend everything. 

Peter would not get much time to register what was happening, because he was joined by a familiar set of aliens. 

"YES!" Drax cackled triumphantly, throwing his fists in the air. 

"I am Groot!" Teen Groot muttered, obviously still dealing with the mood swings of adolescence but nonetheless visibly happy to see Peter.

Mantis just smiled uncomfortably wide, still unused to normal behavior after all this time.

Peter greeted them one-by-one, having recalled that they had turned to dust with him but having been too caught off guard by the whole after-life thing to remember to ask about them. Yondu and Meredith took a step or two back to observe the reunion, and suddenly the soft white clothing everyone was dressed in was not the weirdest part about these spiritual incarnations of his loved ones. Peter eyed the arm that Yondu had wrapped around his mother suspiciously. Yondu knew quite well what Peter was looking at but played it off as though he didn't.

"What're you staring at me for, boy?"

"I don't think I'm ready for this," Peter muttered to himself. 

Peter might as well have eaten his own words, because one last presence made itself known by placing a gentle but strong hand on his shoulder. 

He kissed Gamora instinctively, fully expecting her to pull away and slap him across the face, because they _never_ kissed in front of the other Guardians. It was one of the many 'rule' Gamora had put in place immediately after she and Peter had first done so. Instead, she only deepened the kiss. 

"It's true, then," Peter said when they broke apart. "You did...I mean, you were..."

"Yes," Gamora whispered. "Nothing could have stopped it. It just happened. But we're both here now."

With his girl in his arms and his friends by his side, not to mention his mother and Yondu standing just a few feet away, Peter was already becoming his old self again. "Well, I gotta say: I don't mind the after-life at all. Eternal light bulbs, everybody I care about..." He stole a gaze downward. "...and these weird Jesus robes show a _lot_ of skin."

That time, Gamora _did_ slap him, though it was light and a smirk was playing across her face. Giddily, Peter took her by the arm and gestured toward the older couple. "Uh, Gamora, my mom. Mom, Gamora." 

Meredith smiled sweetly at her son's girl. "Love the highlights."

Gamora gave Peter a questioning look. Peter ran his finger along the pink mixed in the black of her hair. "Oh," Gamora said. "Thank...you." For the first time, Peter was realizing that those were probably not highlights but were natural to Gamora's species.

"Drax," Mantis said suddenly. "I feel funny." 

"You _look_ funny," Drax stated, as if that were the solution to all of Mantis' problems. 

"No, it's something else," Mantis said, clutching her chest. "I feel...dizzy."

Teen Groot made a groaning sound, and put a branch arm to his chest as well. Then he fell over and disappeared into thin air, all at once. 

"Whoa!" Peter exclaimed. 

"Where'd you go, Twig?" Yondu called.

It was Mantis' turn to vanish next, and by that time Drax was already pressing both hands to his own chest. "Quill..." he winced. "Something...is pulling me..."

Drax collapsed and was gone in the blink of an eye. 

"What's going on?" Peter asked, beginning to panic. "I thought you said we can't die here!"

"They are going back to the land of the living," Meredith whispered knowingly, staring at the place where Drax, Mantis and Groot had disappeared. 

"Going back?" Peter repeated. "Why would they go back?"

"They've been called."

Peter was about to inquire as to who might be calling them when Gamora said, "The deed has been undone."

Peter turned to her. She was smiling, her eyes full of bittersweet happiness. "Thanos has been defeated. I can feel it. All those who left are returning."

Just then, as if on cue, Peter felt a strange sensation in his chest. He felt as if he were being pulled downward. "Wait," he said, trying to find some way to fight it. "We're _really_ going back? Hang on, this is bogus! I don't wanna go back!"

"You have to, baby," Meredith said, taking his hand and squeezing it gently. "We'll be right here waiting for you."

"No!" Peter said, looking back and forth from his mother to Gamora to Yondu, relying on his own will and desperation to keep him tethered to this realm. "No! No, let me stay! C'mon!" He didn't know who he was begging. He looked upward, searching for the Being that surely watched over this place. "Hey! Hey, it's cool, man! I don't need to go back! I'm good! I'll just stay here!"

His vision was growing fuzzy. He was getting glimpses of sky. Earth sky. Gamora closed the distance between them, cupping his face in her hands. "Peter, you have to go." 

"Then you come with me!" Peter begged. 

"I can't," Gamora whispered. "I didn't die like you did. Mine can't be reversed like yours was." She was talking quickly, trying to get in as many words as possible before Peter blacked out completely. "I'll be right here, okay? They still need you down there, but I'll be right here. Do me a favor, though? Don't do something stupid like crash the ship or...anything, just to come back here right away. Promise me you'll be patient."

Peter tried to say something, but his words were slurred. 

"I'm okay, Peter. I'm right here. We'll see each other again soon. I love you so mu--!" 

_"Okay, okay!"_

_"Easy, cowboy, you're back."_

_"Quill! Blink if you can hear me!"_

_"I am Groot!"_

Peter woke up on familiar-feeling ground with familiar faces looking down on him. The bright white realm was gone. He was overcome with disappointment and longing; an overwhelming desire to see the people he loved most again. But he was comforted, too. Now, he knew where they were. Now, he knew they would be reunited soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> I wish I could write a less bittersweet ending, but it's kind of hard to speculate where Avengers 4 and Vol. 3 are going to go story-wise and there's no telling if Gamora is going to be resurrected. I kinda have to leave it at this.
> 
> As for my OTP Peter Parker/Michelle Jones, however, expect plenty of post-Infinity War fics to come.
> 
> Bonus Fact: 'Let Your Love Flow' by The Bellamy Brothers is a personal favorite of my own mom's, hence why I included it.


End file.
